Here is what I got for temps and feed rate. Right in line with expectations: Feed rate: 2.8 lbs/hr Heat: 144.6
MinuteMan 2.6 142.1 Freedom Fuel 2.8 144.6 Okies Platinum 2.9 146.1 These are my results so far using this particular thermocouple. As I have maintained, for the most part all pellets heat about the same when you look at the feed rate. These first three fall in line perfectly. Considering there is some tolerances and uncertainties to deal with. I would say these all out out the same heat if feed rate was the same. I won't know about ash for a while. But I did notice that these FF may be leaving some stuff in the burn pot.
Ive tried them both and they are crap. at least in my stove. Lots of ash and lots of fines. little heat.
Pic for proof. I have my stove hooked up to a wifi t-stat and it'll show runtime along with room temp. As you can see, the temps on this day dropped under the setpoint. On this particular day, I ran a bag of Fredom Fuel. Usually, I run AWFs or Okie Golds. With those, I'll run near the setpoint all day.
IHP not to put you on the spot, but can you give a rundown of how your stove is configured to run? I wish I got results this consistent and would like to know how yours is configured so maybe I can try to do the same kind of test? At a high level I have 2 options, room temp and stove temp. I've only ever used room temp mode. Wondering if stove temp mode might get me closer to how your test results are achieved?
I always test running on my lowest setting in manual mode. My stove is designed to run the auger a fixed amount of time and have it off a fixed amount of time at each setting. So every hour the auger will turn the same amount and in perfect conditions deliver the same exact amount of fuel. I normally let the stove run all night and take temps in the morning. I place the thermocouple one inch in front of the top center heat exchange tube, wait five minutes. Turn the thermocouple on, wait five minutes, and in average mode take that number. When the thermocouple is not in average mode the range is usually about +/- 5 degrees from what I posted. A Harman may make things more difficult because your stove is constantly changing feed rates. Hope this helps.
Exactly why I've always said it's hard to test for heat output with Harmans. About the only way I can think to do it is run the stove in stove mode, set the feed rate at 1 and set the heat output at max (7). That might get you close.
I did a 10 bag run of Nations choice after cleaning out the stove. It produced 1 gallon of ash and temps on my stove setting 1 around 140 degrees. (I use an IR gun pointed at a specific spot near the air outlet). By weight it was around .9%. We had to tend to the ashes twice a day. For reference, we then I cleaned the stove again and did 10 bags of the recently arrived Okie DF. 20 fluid oz of ash, about 0.15% by weight and the temp was around 165 degrees. So the nations choice was not as bad as some I tried last year, but a far cry from the Okie DF.
Agreed, essentially I would be starving the stove of fuel, making sure it continuously runs at the MAX configured feed rate (be it 1 or 2 or whatever) by ensuring it can never reach the configured temp. It's basically the same thing that happens when I get home at night and turn on the stove when the house is cold, only in this situation I would be forcing it to occur for an extended period of time.
I burned my 5 bags and all went well. The ash was dark, and there was a small ash cake in my burn pot, but it did not interfere with the stove lighting. I am going to burn some Minute Man without cleaning to give me a better idea of how many bags I could burn through without cleaning. My rough estimate would be 8-10. Somewhere between MWP and Vermont's.
I ended up cleaning and loading the Nations Choice. Stove will be running non stop so i should have a feed rate and temp tomorrow morning. Pellets looked normal. More of a normal size pellet in my opinion. I expect to see a lower feed rate and lower temp because of the size compared to what I have run recently.
Results are in: MinuteMan 2.6 142.1 Freedom Fuel 2.8 144.6 Okies Platinum 2.9 146.1 Nations Choice 2.6 136.6 Now last night temps were a bit colder than when the rest of the testing was done. I will continue to monitor to see if there is a change. But I am pleased so far. As always YMMV
